COLOR DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY

The authors report the results obtained with color Doppler sonography in the study of breast conditions. Color Doppler allows to detect the following main features in breast conditions: the presence of blood fl ow, vessel arrangement, vascularization extent, the number of vascular poles. To investigate slow flows, it is better to use low PRF values (not above 1 KHz) and low filters, while amplification should be set i mmediately above the system's noise threshold; the size of color Doppl er box should be adjusted as small as possible to maximize sensitivity and minimize flash artifacts. In May 1992 to September 1997, 252 pati ents with solid breast masses were examined with mammography, B-mode, color Doppler and power Doppler sonography (only 57 cases). We identif ied histologically (176 cases) or cytologically (77 cases) 141 carcino mas and 112 benign solid lesions. The diameter of the 141 carcinomas r anged 0.4-4 cm (mean 1.7), while the diameter of benign lesions ranged 0.7-3 cm (mean 1.5). The malignancy pattern was characterized by hype rvascularity (92.9%), irregular and abundant (54.2%) vascularization a nd more than one vascular pole. Benign lesions were avascular (43.4%) with poor and peripheral vascularity (90%) and mostly showed only one vascular pole. The avascular cancers (10 cases) were three mucoid, fiv e in situ and two small (0.7 and 0.9 cm) invasive ductal carcinomas. T he six benign lesions with irregular and abundant vascularization and more than one vascular pole were proved to be two proliferating and th ree juvenile fibroadenomas and one phylloid tumor. These results are e ncouraging and suggest that this technique can be a useful adjunct to mammography and sonography in the differential, diagnosis of breast no dules. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.